All the above plus less cleaning, less maintenance, less loading bikes into cars and driving to the ride start point.

Yes, there is loads of kit you could buy but in reality, coming from mountain biking all you need (probably) is a few pairs of lycra shorts, a top or two and maybe a higher pressure / smaller pump. and a couple of water bottles. The simplicity is one of the joys I think.

Join a club or a least try riding in a group and you won't regret it. Solo rides are fun but very hard mentally. Group riding can really push you that little bit extra and the miles can fly by when the mind is occupied.

Cheers for the replies - I'm looking forward to riding from the door mainly. I have a few mates who ride road so we're going to start group riding pretty soon. The two week wait to pick the bike up and a heavy work load are going to build the excitment

Strava can be useful if you are measuring yourself against yourself. Always good to see you averages / climb times go up over the same route after a period of time. Although, so many factors (dry/wet, wind, traffic lights etc) can alter things so don't take it too seriously.

Enjoy it. I took the plunge in January and have loved it. My Allez is my least posh bike but the one that gets ridden the most, although I do ride solo all the time I really enjoy it. I've even embraced lycra despite hating it for years...it's annoyingly comfortable!

I've only had a road bike for a few months but my bike fitness had improved a lot. Still room for more improvement, but I'm climbing better on the mtb.

As others have said, get out in the countryside. I can get out to some quite nice roads and villages from my doorstep. The views are nowt compared to Scotland or the Peaks, but it's still nice after being cooped up in an office all day.

The thing I've liked the most is the lack of faf. Put on my riding gear, sling some water in a bottle and off I go for as long or little as I want. No hydration packs to fill, no driving somewhere good to ride, less cleaning. Brilliant.

I use a saddle pack...a tiny Lezyne one that I can squeeze a spare tube in, tyre levers, patches, multi tool and C02 canister. That way it stays on the bike so I don't have to keep stuffing thngs into my jersey. I only put my phone, money and food in my jersey.

I use my phone to record my road rides only so I can track distance, speed etc. It's been good to track the improvements for me, but I don't get too hung up on it.

The most important thing to bear in mind, at all times, no matter what, is to look cool.

Shave your legs and apply a thin film of oil to enhance the coolness, lose lots of weight so you can wear closer-fitting clothes whilst looking cool, and work on your super-cool-thousand-yardmetre-death-stare.

My top tip is spent time and effort (and some money) getting your bike to fit properly. Despite what people say, it SHOULD be comfortable on both drops and hoods, and it's not a question of beating your body into submission.

There are way more variables on a road bike than an MTB. Different bar shapes, how much they are rotated and where you put the hoods have a big effect. And the saddle is crucial too because you spend so much time just sat in it, you are far more susceptible to numb plumz.

I know its against the rules, but I like my saddle bag - I never forget anything because it is always on my bike. Being tiny, I don't think that it's that offensive to look at either.

I'll echo what molgrips said - I spend a fair bit of time fiddling with saddle heights / angles etc to get it right. I've not fiddle with my bar angle or owt yet because they feel comfortanle as they are.

One thing I have thought about is a carbon post - my Allez is quite harsh over poor road surfaces (which we have lots of). Not sure if it will damen things much though.

So true. Even if it means having the bars higher than is "cool" and not slamming the stem. My new bars are 21cm from the crown race to the bars. That means a little higher on the hoods than previously, but so easy on the drops. Gain is at least 1mph average speed.

As for seatpacks, my new bike won't take a light on the post, so I use a saddle rail mount and no seatpack. I keep a medium lezyne caddy sack in my jersey and it swaps from bike to bike and ride to ride.